Twisted Hope
by Tess Phoenix
Summary: Echo Evans just lost everything. Her home, her family, her legs, the only thing left is her life. Or so she thinks. Her deceased father may have left more secrets than she knew he had. Post-Avengers
1. Chapter 1

It was the end. Dust filled her lungs, but she didn't have the energy to cough it out. Pain filled her back and her legs felt numb. Small cracks let minimal amounts of light into the small space she had under the fallen debris. The sound of her own heart pounding filled her ears.

* * *

_So this is what it feels like to die, _she thought weakly. Her vision was dark around the edges and was quickly fading. She half closed her eyes, waiting for the end of her life to come upon her. Then, some of the debris was lifted from her, light finally reaching her. Firemen quickly worked to clear the debris away from her, though to her they seemed to move in slow motion. As she faded from consciousness, she saw medics come to take her to the hospital.

"Am I paralyzed?" Echo Evans asked her voice rough from just waking up. One of the doctors looked at her sympathetically.

"I'm afraid so," he said softly. "You may never be able to use your legs again." She closed her eyes to keep the forming tears from falling. Just moments ago she had learned her family was killed, her father by a Chitauri and her mother and brother from a ceiling caving in on them as they tried to escape their collapsing apartment. It wasn't hard to find them since their bodies had already been discovered and their identities released. Echo looked up at the doctor with reddened eyes.

"What am I going to do?" He sighed.

"We can keep you here for another 24 hours for checkups, though it seems you'll be alright if you go around in a wheelchair. You haven't gotten any more damage than in your spine. I'd suggest you stay another night just in case you do have any more injuries that we may have missed. We don't want you hurting yourself even more." Echo stared off to the side and nodded slightly, showing she agreed to stay. Within the last twenty minutes she'd lost everything she had; her home, her family, her legs. The only thing she had left was her life and she didn't plan on losing that any time soon.

"Do I have to stay in here?" she asked, her voice slightly choked from the held back tears.

"We could let you out for an hour to an hour and a half," the doctor replied. "But even so, where do you plan on going?" She gave it a moment of thought.

"I could at least do what I can to help." The doctor glanced out the window and then back at her.

"There's a shelter for people who have been affected by the attack not too far from here. They could use some help and we could lend you a wheelchair. I'll arrange for a ride to take you and pick you up. One of the nurses will help you change." He left the room and a nurse with long dark hair came and picked her up out of her cot. She helped Echo change into a black shirt, jeans, and a plain grey sweater. She pulled on some sneakers and a wheelchair waited outside. The nurse showed her how to use it and led her to the van that waited just outside the hospital. She wheeled into the van and was secured in. The nurse gave her a comforting smile and shut the door.

The damage Echo saw on the way to the shelter was unsettling. Chunks of debris from damaged buildings littered the streets, some with cars under them. Overpasses were collapsed, buildings were destroyed, and people sat on the streets loaded with open cuts and bruises and some even with broken bones. It made Echo shudder to know she wasn't the only going through such hard times. Who knew how many people had lost family or friends and the worst of it was that some didn't know what happened to them. They waited anxiously, hoping for a call or message to come to say they were all right. Most likely, a lot of people would be intensely disappointed to know that the person they hoped was okay was dead or missing, never to be found.

The van stopped at a fairly large white tent. Echo could see shadows of people hurrying back and forth to tend to wounded civilians. The driver undid the fastenings of her wheelchair to the van and helped her out.

"I'll be back in an hour," he said. "Be ready then." She nodded and wheeled into the tent. People glanced at her, wounds pouring blood onto their faces, torsos, and limbs. Some were crying and some stared at the ground in shock. One of the medics looked up at her.

"You must be the girl who was coming to help," she said. Echo nodded. The medic thrust bandages into her arms. "Help as many people as you can and try to clean their cuts as well as you can." Echo turned and looked at a man who was gripping his shoulder tightly. Blood stained his hand and the shirt beneath. She wheeled over to him and looked at him in his eyes.

"Let me have a look," she said. He hesitated, but removed his hand. The cut was deep and wide, gushing blood nonstop. Echo took a cloth and wiped away as much blood as she could and cleaned the wound to help with stopping infection. She wondered how much it was hurting him, but he never made a sound. She wrapped a bandage tightly around his shoulder and tied it tight. She gave him a smile and moved on to another person.

As she worked on cleaning people's wounds, a woman with short red hair and a black skintight suit walked in.

"How's it going over here?" she asked.

"Good," the medic replied. "But more and more people keep coming. Thankfully we have a bit more help." She gestured to Echo who was wrapping a small girl's wrist. She gave the woman a quick smile and tied the bandage.

"How long have you been in that wheelchair?" the woman asked curiously.

"Since about a half an hour ago," Echo replied. "Some debris from a building fell on me and I got paralyzed waist down. I was allowed to come down here to help." She moved on to another person and the woman nodded.

"Alright, thank you," she said and left. Echo guessed she'd just been there to make sure everything was going okay so she could report it to whoever needed to know. She hoped other shelters were doing as good as this one.

The next morning, the doctors checked to see if Echo had any more injuries. Apparently she didn't so they allowed her to go, but she wasn't sure where she wanted to go. Her home was destroyed and there she was sitting immobilized in a wheelchair. Instead of just sitting there aimlessly, she decided to wheel around some. Maybe she could help if anyone was in need.

Officers walked around picking up stray Chitauri weapons and armor that lay here and there. Bodies of the otherworldly creatures lie dead in the streets and one of the gigantic reptile-like animals that had contained many of the Chitauri soldiers hung half suspended on the top of a building. Echo swallowed painfully, trying to hold back the nausea from the sight of the purple splotched aliens. Purple was less disgusting than red, but it she still knew what it was and it sickened her. Apparently one of the Chitauri had barged into her apartment and stabbed her father through the heart with its spear gun weapon. In a way, she was glad she hadn't seen her father die like that, but part of her wished she'd been there in his final moments. Now she'd never see him again.

The tall skyscraper that used to be StarkTower laid half in ruins. The letters had busted off and fallen, only to leave a letter A. Echo found that funny because the A seemed to stand for the Avengers, the superheroes who'd saved the world from any more destruction the alien race would have caused. The tower had also housed the famous Tony Stark who was Ironman and one of the Avengers. At one time the tower had stood tall and strong, a 'beacon of self-sustaining energy.' Now, it was in desperate need of repair.

"Hey, it's not safe to be wandering around out here." Echo turned and saw one of the Avengers standing behind her. Captain America looked down at her, his shield shining in the sun. It was like a moment from a movie.

"Uh, sorry," she apologized, "I'll move." She turned her wheelchair to leave, but he stopped her.

"Are you the girl Nat- I mean Black Widow told me about? The one in the shelter yesterday?" Echo nodded.

"Yes, why?"

"You seem lost," he replied.

"No, I'm just…" she trailed off. She didn't know where she was going or what she was supposed to do now. "…I'm just trying to find a place to call home for now. My  
home's gone." The words stung the Captain. He felt sorry for her knowing she would never walk again.

"Do you have any family you can contact?" She shook her head.

"My father was killed by the Chitauri and my mom and brother were killed in our apartment building." Her last words were choked and her eyes grew red. She hadn't meant to look desperate in front of one of the 'Earth's mightiest heroes', but she could stop it and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Captain America looked around and then knelt down to her level.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said softly putting a hand on her shoulder. "I think I have a place for you to stay for now."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, its Tessa. I just wanted to apologize for my procrastination. It's difficult to write more than one story at once. I'm taking a bit of a break on my other story, The Tesseract, for a while so I can do this one. Without further ado, chapter 2!**

* * *

Steve Rodgers apartment seemed to be untouched by the chaos and destruction of the alien attack. The view from his window wasn't pleasant; there was still a ruined city out there that was only starting to be cleaned up. He wheeled her into the apartment, letting her relax for a bit, her tears dried from before.

"You're really going to let me stay here?" Echo asked. He nodded.

"I'm not going to leave you out there alone, not like this."

"There are so many people here that are in worse shape than me," Echo replied, "Others have had people die right beside them. Why did you pick me to stay here?" Her question made Steve freeze for a moment.

"I don't know you're just…" he looked at her. She stared back at him with grey eyes that longed for answers. "…You're different." She blinked and sat back in her wheelchair. She had been leaning forward from anxiousness to receive his answer. Spinning around in her wheelchair, Echo moved over to the window. Outside, she saw people working on moving large pieces of concrete from fallen buildings. Some worked frantically, hoping that their loved one was still alive underneath. Some just moved methodically to remove pieces so that the things that were still intact underneath wouldn't get damaged even more. Even from being four stories from the ground, she could see people's tear-stained faces as they tried to grasp the knowledge that they had just lost someone dear to their heart. Echo moved back from the window, the horrified looks from the civilians below plaguing her mind.

"This should never have happened," she croaked. "Why would anyone ever want to hurt people like this?"

"For power," Steve replied walking over to her. "The greed for power can poison people's minds. Once they taste it, they want more." Echo shook her head and looked at the floor, pieces of her auburn hair falling over her face. She understood those people's pain. No one should ever have to go through what they were, and yet it was happening all around.

"I-I need some rest," she stuttered quietly. Steve helped her out of her wheelchair and onto the couch beside her. He pulled a blanket over her and smiled.

"I promise you everything will turn out alright." She gave him a weak smile back.

"I really hope you're right."

* * *

The Avengers had gone their separate ways. Tony Stark had gone back to reunite with Pepper Potts at StarkTower to start rebuilding. Bruce Banner returned to Calcutta to resume his doctoring with all the sick civilians. Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton disappeared to who-knows-where and Steve stayed in his apartment, helping those he could on the streets below. Thor had taken Loki back to Asgard to receive his punishment, which relieved most people to know their biggest threat had just left earth. But even though the Avengers had saved the earth, people were blaming them for all the damage. Some said they had to pay for all the damage because it was technically their fault. No one ever forced them to do so, but not everyone was happy.

Including the Council.

"You directly disobeyed orders to deploy the missile," one of the men that formed the Council told the director of SHIELD, Nick Fury. "What makes you think we'll still accept you as head of SHIELD?"

"I don't," he replied, watching them steadily with his single good eye. "But it'll be more difficult for the Avengers to assemble with orders from someone they don't know. That goes for everyone who works at SHIELD as well." There was a long silence, but it was broken by the woman next to the man who had spoken before.

"You will stay director until further notice," she told him, "But if you do anything out of context, you will be replaced immediately, understand?" Fury nodded and the shadowy figures of the Council disappeared from the screen. He gave out a silent sigh. His actions hadn't improved what they thought of him. Disobeying orders could have had him kicked out of SHIELD entirely, but luckily, he was still here. He walked away from the circular computer room. Agent Maria Hill walked up to him.

"Are you still director?" she asked.

"Yes, but I don't know how long it will last," he replied. "Any news on the damage?"

"The damage costs are at seven million and rising. Hundreds are missing and thousands are homeless. Agent Romanoff and Captain America are helping clean up some of the debris and helping the wounded." She stopped. "And they found him." Nick Fury's eye widened, since he only had the single one. The man they'd been looking for for so many years finally discovered.

"Where is he?"

"Dead." That struck Nick as surprising. The information they had collected said he'd lived in New York, the very city the attack had affected the most, so his death shouldn't have been surprising, but the origins of him changed everything.

"Apparently he was from Asgard," Agent Hill continued, a hint of astonishment in her voice, "Killed by a Chitauri." She handed Fury the file and he scanned it over. He'd been stabbed through by one of Chitauri's weapons after he'd killed the vile creature that had held it. Nick sighed in annoyance. The man was still mostly unknown except for the fact that obviously he was male and that he had a family who'd also been murdered by the Chitauri's attack.

"Why is it that nothing is going in our favor?" Nick asked, irritated. "Are you positive that none of his family is still living?"

"The report says that he had a wife and two children, an older daughter and a younger son. His wife and son were killed by the ceiling collapsing on top of them, but the daughter was never found. She hadn't been in the building during the attack."

"Sir!" A soldier ran up to them hurriedly, slightly winded from his sudden run. Fury and Hill looked at him. "We have a visitor."

* * *

Thor paced anxiously. Sweat beaded his forehead, worries flowing through his mind like a river that would never cease. Problems kept on developing and coming nonstop which added onto the pile that he already had. He stopped as he saw Nick Fury walk outside to greet him.

"Welcome back," Nick said suppressing his shock as best he could. "What brings you back?"

"Loki," Thor said quickly. "Has he come here?" Nick looked at Agent Hill who had followed him. She shook her head.

"Nothing's come up," she replied. The blond Asgardian let out a groan of irritation and worry.

"He's gone missing from Asgard and no one seems to know where he went. He was being held in the dungeon last night and was gone in the morning. I had thought for sure he'd come back here." Nick shook his head.

"I apologize, but there's been no sign of him. We're still trying to clean up the mess from his last visit."

"If there is any sign of him, use this." Thor handed Nick a small silver medallion with a glowing blue jewel in its center. "If you speak to it, we shall hear you through the tesseract. We have been using it to help others instead of destroying them as my brother sought." Nick was impressed by the fact that Thor still called Loki his brother even though he tried to kill an entire race. He accepted the medallion and watched Thor launch into the sky with the help of Mjolnir. As soon-to-be-king of Asgard, he had other duties to attend to.

"Where do you think Loki could have gone?" Hill asked curiously.

"We can only imagine," Nick replied.


	3. Chapter 3

He was an ugly, strange creature. His face was half hidden by a black hood and he had sharp teeth. He had six fingers instead of five and his skin was a strange pale color. It appeared that he was wearing armor that was white and gold. He referred to himself as The Other. Echo wasn't sure what kind of world she was in, but it was a dark one among the stars. She felt like she was only half dreaming, but it felt real at the same time. She thought it couldn't be real because she could walk but everything felt too real to be dreaming; it confused her.

"You owe us a debt," The Other said in a strange, deep voice.

"No I don't," Echo said nervously, stepping back from him. "I don't even know who you are!"

"We are the Chitauri." This made Echo freeze. "Because of your parent's death, their debt comes upon you, their firstborn."

"What do my parents have to do with anything?" Other Chitauri appeared from behind the large black boulders. She swallowed, afraid.

"Your father had dealings with us long ago. He owed us a debt. That falls upon you now because of his death."

"That was your fault," Echo said mustering up her courage. "One of you killed him!"

"He would have never paid it. Now you will pay it."

"Or else what?" she spat angrily. The Other grinned evilly.

"Or else you will end up like him." Another Chitauri brought out a pale skinned man and threw him to the ground. He wore remnants of green, black, and gold clothes. His black hair was messy and fell about his cut and bruised face. Deep cuts littered his body and he let out a painful moan when he hit the ground, holding himself up with his arms. They shook weakly. He looked up at her with pain-filled green eyes. She gasped in shock.

"Loki," she whispered.

"You will pay the debt you owe or you will wish you had never existed." The Other put one of his six fingered hands around her mouth just as she was about to scream. She sat up on the couch, drenched in sweat. The horrible dream haunted her mind as vivid as a memory. Steve ran into the room and turned on a light.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Echo wiped tears from her eyes, her arm coming away full of salty tears and sweat.

"Uh, y-yeah, I'm fine. Just a nightmare, I'm still getting over the fact my family is gone." That stung her worse than the fact she was lying. She had been trying to block that thought from her mind, but saying it made the pain surge back at her. At the same time, she didn't want to say anything about the dream. It could have just all been a figment of her imagination. She shook it from her mind and wiped her face off with her blanket.

"Looks like you need some new sheets," Steve said with a smile. Echo decided to return the smile, but it wasn't a real one. Why should she be happy? With a dream like that, no one should be smiling.

Steve helped her off the couch and into her wheelchair temporarily. He handed her a shirt and she wheeled into the bathroom to put it on. She pulled off her sweaty pale blue shirt and put on the large black button-up shirt he had handed her. It was much too big, but it would do for now. As she did so, she caught a glance at herself in the mirror. Her hair was messy and she looked pale. She looked horrible and wondered if Steve just wasn't saying anything to be polite. Echo looked away from the mirror and left the bathroom. The couch was made up again with clean sheets for her to sleep on. Steve helped her onto it and they said good-night once again. This time when Echo slept, she didn't dream.

* * *

Pain coursed through Echo in the morning. She woke up suddenly, breathing heavily. She coughed, sending a shockwave of pain through her middle. It felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach. Upon looking at her pillow, she noticed it was splattered with blood. Then it came to her. She'd been coughing up blood in her sleep.

"St-eve," she moaned, trying to speak. No answer. She tried calling his name again, but she couldn't speak. The pain was too much for her to be able to say anything. She curled up into a ball and groaned weakly. Thankfully, he walked into the room not too long after.

"Echo?" he said worriedly seeing her curled up in pain on the couch. She looked at him, wiping blood from her lips. He picked her up and set her in the wheelchair, blanket and all. "What happened?"

"I don't know," she said in a hushed voice, "I just woke up like this." She coughed again, bent over and bloodying the blanket covering her. Steve rushed to get her into his car and to the hospital. He realized maybe calling an ambulance would have been quicker, but it was too late now. He drove as fast as he could to the hospital and carried her in, forgetting the wheelchair altogether. As soon as the doctors saw her, they led Steve to a room and set her in the cot.

"You'll be alright," he promised. Echo looked at him worried.

"I hope so," she wheezed. He left the room and let the doctor examine her.

After about an hour, the doctor came out of the room and found Steve sitting in the chair just outside her room.

"Is she okay?" he asked. The doctor seemed to be confused.

"Something strange is happening inside of her. Her body is reacting like if someone were physically hitting or kicking her. I don't know what's causing it, but whatever it is, we can't seem to pinpoint a cause. If we can't find what's doing this to her, she might die if it gets too bad. She'll recover from her recent injuries this time and hopefully it won't happen again. If it does, come back straight away." He gave Steve a comforting smile and left to do something. Steve went inside the room and saw Echo resting on the cot. She seemed peaceful, but he didn't how long it would last.

* * *

"Sir, we have news." Nick Fury walked away from the helicopter he had just come off of. A soldier had come up to him, looking eager to report whatever had just been discovered.

"What did you find?"

"His daughter is alive. She survived the Chitauri attack." Fury stopped dead in his tracks. He had expected that she was dead, but knowing she was alive opened a whole bunch of new possibilities.

"Where is she?"

"New York, sir. Agent Romanoff reported seeing a young girl in a wheelchair who had been volunteering at a shelter. It appears the girl was the one we thought was dead." Fury began walking again, but quicker. He needed to find her, as soon as possible. She was the key to unlocking the secrets of her deceased father and what he had been keeping from SHIELD.


End file.
